Looking back, it all makes sense

Steph was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, a relatively common but serious, frequently undiagnosed, and easily treatable thyroid disorder. After the diagnosis came last Friday, Steph was put on a medication called Synthroid, a synthetic thyroid hormone. She has been on the meds for a week and just yesterday, she seemed to start feeling some better. At least her energy level is starting to return, albeit slowly.

Looking back on it, it makes a lot of sense. Steph says that she believes that this all started back in the mid eighties, as she has experienced the symptoms at varying degrees since then. Over the last several years, however, we have seen a marked digression in her health. We simply chalked it up to stress, but she didn't seem to feel much better after the stress eased up.

Another symptom that jumps out at me was her loss of passion for life. Steph is a very passionate person. She loves life and she lives it to it's fullest. It got where she had no motivation or passion for anything, and this lack of motivation and passion only worsened after our return from Vienna. This was what seemed to be the most devastating aspect of the disease for her. She calls it a "soul-sucking" disease. That's because the chronic fatigue, constant aches and pains, depression, and illness that are all a part of this disease, rob a person of any motivation or passion for anything. Things began to get really frightening last week, before we got the diagnosis, when Steph went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and she said that she just wanted to lay down on the floor and die...and she wasn't just saying it, she meant it.

In two months, Steph returns to the doctor for more blood tests to see if her thyroid hormone levels are back to acceptable, normal levels. It could take some adjustments of her medication to get everything running smoothly again, but it's worth it to have her feeling good and acting her passionate, excitable self. Once that happens, I'm going to have to get on some serious vitamins because if I don't, I probably won't be able to keep up!